State lawmakers on Thursday picked Deputy Adjutant General Henry “Hank” Harder to lead the Vermont National Guard.
The retired Air National Guard general beat out Army National Guard Col. Roger “Brent” Zeigler for the post by a 147-23 vote. He’ll serve as the top military officer in Vermont.
The current leader, Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight, is retiring after seven years, creating a rare contested election.
Vermont is the only state whose legislature chooses the leader of its National Guard forces instead of the governor. The General Assembly holds a joint session every two years to select who serves.
The unusual process requires career military officers to run political campaigns to win the votes of lawmakers, a process that Gov. Phil Scott thinks puts candidates in an awkward position. Others view it as an important exercise of civilian oversight of the military.
Harder and Zeigler were both well-regarded career Guard officers, but Harder has been serving as Knight’s second in command since 2024, which gave him a leg up on his opponent, several lawmakers told Seven Days.
This year’s contest took place against the backdrop of two controversial federal deployments of the Vermont Air National Guard, which operates 20 F-35 fighter jets out of its South Burlington base.
The VTANG troops were deployed in December to Puerto Rico to take part in Operation Southern Spear, the action that removed Venezuela’s leader from power, and more recently to the Middle East as part of the military buildup to pressure Iran.
While Gov. Scott is the commander in chief of the 2,700 members of the Vermont Guard, deployment orders from the Pentagon take precedence over those of state officials.
After Harder’s election, Scott issued a statement congratulating him.
“With over 35 years of service, I believe his understanding of the issues facing the Guard and Vermont will help him continue to build on the progress made in recent years,” Scott said.
Scott also praised Knight, who was first elected in 2019, as a “champion for raising awareness around mental health for our service members, veterans, and their families” and for leading the Guard as it helped the state deal with flooding, a pandemic and cyberattacks.
“I’m grateful for his leadership and service to Vermont and wish him and his family well in his next chapter,” Scott said.